---
slug: 2024-q3-updates-and-changes
title: 2024 Q3 Updates and Changes
date: 2024-09-30
---

## Meltano

We've released version [3.5.0](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/releases/tag/v3.5.0) of Meltano!

This release includes, among other things, the following changes:

* Plugins are now auto-installed when commands require them. This change involves two new features:

  * New [CLI options](https://docs.meltano.com/reference/command-line-interface#auto-install-behavior):
    * `--install`
    * `--no-install`
    * `--only-install`
  * A new project-level setting [`auto_install`](https://docs.meltano.com/reference/settings/#auto_install). The value of this determines whether plugins are auto-installed when none of the above options are passed (the default). Set it to `false` to require `--install` to auto-install plugins.

  Thanks to [Reuben Frankel](https://github.com/ReubenFrankel/) for their work on this feature!

- A new CLI option [`--refresh-catalog`](https://docs.meltano.com/reference/command-line-interface) and plugin-level extra [`use_cached_catalog`](https://docs.meltano.com/concepts/plugins/#use_cached_catalog-extra). Use this if you need the extractor's catalog to reflect changes that occurred upstream, like often happens with database sources.

  Thanks to [Andy O'Neal](https://github.com/andyoneal/) for contributing this feature!

You can read the complete release notes [on GitHub](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/releases/tag/v3.5.0).

## MeltanoHub

### Extractors

* Added the Bohdan Stadnyk variant of tap-bitbucket - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/extractors/tap-bitbucket--humblebeck/)
* Added the Afonso Diniz variant of tap-calendly - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/extractors/tap-calendly--afonsodiniz/)
* Added the Shaped AI variant of tap-iceberg - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/extractors/tap-iceberg--shaped-ai/)
* Added the chartica variant of tap-staffwise - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/extractors/tap-staffwise--chartica/)
* Added the TicketSwap variant of tap-apple-search-ads - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/extractors/tap-apple-search-ads--ticketswap/)

### Loaders

* Added the Infostrux Solutions variant of target-db2 - [Hub Link](https://hub.meltano.com/loaders/target-db2--infostrux/)

### Utilities

All dbt utility plugins, which use [the Meltano dbt utility extension](https://github.com/meltano/dbt-ext/), now depend on the `meltano-dbt-ext` package directly [from PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/meltano-dbt-ext/) instead of the GitHub repository. This change makes installing dbt plugins faster and more reliable.

## SDK

We shipped two minor releases of the SDK:

* [v0.39.0](https://github.com/meltano/sdk/releases/tag/v0.39.0)
* [v0.40.0](https://github.com/meltano/sdk/releases/tag/v0.40.0)

Among other things, these releases shipped the following changes:

- Targets now emit basic metrics, like the number of records written and the processing time of each batch of records.
- Improved handling of reserved keywords for SQL-based targets. This is part of our ongoing effort to make SQL-based targets more robust and easier to use.
